Jack Tyler wrote:

> If any country ever made use of a fruit that wasn't native to it... I
> believe that Italy couldn't exist without the tomatoes brought back
> from the "new world". You have to wonder just what the Hell they ate
> before the tomato arrived.

Tomatos were considered to be poisonous for decades.

And the noodle didn't arrive until Marco Polo returned from China...

I would guess that Italians living in the southern half of the country
ate food that you'd see in north Africa and the Near East. Unleavened
bread, olives, olive oil, goat cheese, lamb, goat, egg plants, etc.